Just wanted to second dpg up there -- I always thought that we watch movies to ESCAPE real life... or, maybe more to the point, we want to experience the extremes that real life has to offer, but in the safe environment of a theater/ lounge room or wherever, in order to learn important but dangerous life lessons through a protagonist's catharsis... If not for those lofty purposes, then at least just to escape real life. If I want real life I'll interact with other people in the real world, or I'll watch a documentary.
Movies should give us an emotionally rich and condensed versions of real life... That's why I pay $ to see them -- I don't want to pay for real life when it comes free, knocking on my bloody door at 6:30 am everyday and doesn't leave until I close my eyes at some point, usually late in the PM that night...